“Its favorable weather,” said Lehman. “You take a chance, a gamble and try something anyhow. Maybe not everything but get a start on it.”
Lehman tells 6 News at his 224 acre farm - they plant a bunch of different vegetables as well as wheat and oats – on Thursday he began planting oats!
“Oats you should be done planting by the end of April and corn by the end of may, that’s your goal,” added Lehman.
Lehman believes the earlier you start planting - the better for harvest and sales – although he says it is risky.
“We could have a frost yet, we could and if the corn is up, it can really knock it back or even kill it if its hard enough,” said Lehman. “So that’s a lot of money wasted for seed, its about one hundred bucks an acre for seed, then you got to go in a replant.”
However, one farmer in Centre county has that taken care of.
“This is so abnormally early. Normally we don’t plant till almost the end of April,” said Jason Coopey, the owner of Way Fruit Farm.
Coopey tells Channel 6 he has everything planted as of Thursday.
“So today we just started planting our first corn of the season,” added Coopey. “We plant it under the plastic that actually acts like a little mini greenhouse to get the temperatures up.”
Source: wjactv.com
Photo Credit: istock-chas53
Categories: Pennsylvania, Crops, Fruits and Vegetables